MacBook Neo review: The Mac is good enough for most people
MacBook Neo is the new beginning of the Mac, so the name is appropriate. Desktop computers and laptops were once Apple’s main focus, but today they play a smaller role in operations, overshadowed by the iPhone and iPad, and increasingly the Apple TV.
Millions of iPhone and iPad users still don’t use Macs anymore, as they are often considered expensive compared to PC devices. Yes, the best MacBooks are extremely powerful, and for the money, they outshine the competition, but if you don’t need to edit large 4K videos, animations or audio tracks, it might be a little overkill.
Since the 12-inch MacBook was discontinued in 2019, the only options for entry-level users have been an iPad with a keyboard attached or shelling out £1000 for a MacBook Air. Now, with the MacBook Neo, Apple offers an affordable, competitive alternative to the PC.
Not having an M chip might put off existing MacBook users, but the A18 Pro chip included is now so powerful that, unless you’re really looking for memory-hungry apps, you won’t really be missing out. And if you do, you should be looking at the MacBook Air.
(Image credit: Future)
How big is the MacBook Neo?
First announced on March 4, 2026, the MacBook Neo is available for pre-order and will go on sale from March 11. The base model features 256GB of storage and is priced at £599 in the UK, $599 in the US, €699 in Europe and A$899 in Australia.
It comes in a choice of four colors, including silver, blush, indigo and citrus. If you want 512GB and Touch ID, it will cost you £699 / $699 / €799 / A$1099. There are no memory upgrade options for this model.
(Image credit: Future)
Features and design
Despite being a budget device, the Neo features an aluminum chassis. Many laptops try to save costs by choosing a plastic shell, however, the use of aluminum here gives you a much better and immediately noticeable feeling like a MacBook. It’s thin and light too, measuring 1.27 cm (0.5 inches) and weighing 1.23kg (2.7lbs). That’s the same weight as the MacBook Air 13-inch, and while it’s not that small, it has a smaller footprint, at 29.75cm (11.71 in) x 20.64 cm (8.12 in).
As mentioned earlier, it comes in a choice of four colors, with a subtle color wash on the keyboard and feet to match. Unfortunately, the supplied USB-C cable is not color-matched as it was on the blue MacBook Air.
Speaking of keyboards, this is a full-sized magic keyboard, complete with full-length function keys. If you choose the upgraded Neo model, the top right key includes Touch ID, otherwise, this is the lock key that brings up your password screen. There’s also a multi-touch trackpad that clicks when you press it – rather than just giving haptic feedback. One thing that is missing here from others is any kind of backlight on the keyboard.
While a backlit keyboard is useful when working in dark conditions – especially with a black keyboard – if you’re working under normal lighting, it’s not much of a problem. I was testing the blush finish Neo, and the keyboard is almost white, which made it really easy to see even in low light.
The Neo’s main body has a square edge with curved corners reminiscent of recent iPad and iPhone designs. There’s no MagSafe charging port here, but there are two USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. I’m not sure most people still need the 3.5mm port for their headphones, but it’s useful for connecting a computer to external speakers.
The USB-C ports do not support the faster Thunderbolt 4 protocol, and while one port is USB 3 (10Gb/s), the other is a basic USB 2 port. Although it can be used for charging, the USB 3 port can also be used to connect an external monitor. I tested this by connecting it to a 27-inch Apple Studio monitor, and it works fine. However, it automatically switches to 1920x1080p, which looks a bit low behind the 2k display I’m used to.
There are also built-in speakers on the MacBook Neo, with two side-firing speakers, with small grills appearing on the front sides of the body. These support Spatial sound, and while they’re not as spacious as the four-speaker system on the MacBook Air, they’re loud enough for casual use.
(Image credit: Future)
Show
The screen on the Neo is a 13-inch Liquid Retina Display, with 2408×1506 pixels and 500 nits brightness. This is slightly smaller than the MacBook Air’s screen and has a standard sRGB color space rather than the wider P3 color space, but offers the same level of brightness.
Compared to the MacBook Pro’s mini-LED backlit display and the 5K retina Studio Display, the colors from the Neo’s screen look cooler, but have greater contrast and tone. Viewed alone, or compared to smaller devices, the display is truly impressive.
I tested a range of images and video on the Neo. Apple TV program Inheritance of the King of Beasts it looks incredible on a 13-inch display, although obviously without the level of detail in the shadows of the MacBook Pro screen.
There is no notch on the display; instead, the 1080p FaceTime HD camera is built into the top bezel. The new MacBook models have now been upgraded to a 12MP camera with CenterStage support, which you won’t find here. However, the camera still looks really good on the screen and is more than adequate for video calls.
(Image credit: Future)
Working
For the first time in a MacBook, the Neo uses an A-series chip. The A18 Pro has been used in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. This is a 3 nanometer chip with a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU, as well as a 16-core neural engine for AI functions. And it’s that AI capability that really makes this chip stand out.
Previous benchmarks have seen the Neo’s A18 Pro chip outperform the MacBook Air with the M1 chip in the multicore CPU test, and nearly match the MacBook Air models with the M4 chip in the single core test. This single core performance is what will affect the general performance of the machine, so this strong performance is what makes the Neo seem so fast.
The advantage of the A18 Pro over something like the older M1 chip is its AI functionality. As we have seen with the iPhone 16 Pro models, this is designed with AI in mind, so everything from summarizing text and questions to generating presentations and images can be done on the device easily.
Neo’s limitations are more likely to come from memory than CPU and GPU speed. With only 8GB of memory, intensive tasks such as video editing, gaming or multitasking can be limited. Most budget PCs now offer a base of 16GB, and the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro now start at 16GB instead of 8GB.
Having said that, I found the Neo to be capable of running multiple programs at once with no problem at all. I installed both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop on the test device and kept them open alongside Chrome, Apple TV and Apple Music – and the Neo ran without a hitch.
As a direct test, I exported 12 files from Lightroom to Neo, which took about 4.5 seconds. The same test on the MacBook Pro M5 took more than 2 seconds, which is very fast, but both are really impressive.
Where I noticed the difference was when I restarted the machine. With so many apps to launch, the Neo takes a long time before everything is ready to go. This is not a problem for most users, however, and the fact that it can still use many memory-intensive programs is unfortunate.
(Image credit: Future)
Battery
As you might expect, the battery life listed on the Neo is not up there with the MacBook Pro. However, with 16 hours of video streaming, it’s not that far behind the MacBook Air’s 18 hours. It’s definitely more than you’d need to get through the day without plugging in.
In fact, the Neo’s battery has held up very well. After three days of intermittent use, there was about 25% left in the tank. With that in mind, I’m sure that all-day use is more than achievable. In fact, our sister site, Tom’s guide rated at over 13 hours of continuous use, which is very impressive.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy a MacBook Neo?
Most thought that a MacBook running on an iPhone chip would require major compromises. However, the MacBook Neo proved otherwise. The A18 Pro chip not only has the lightning-fast performance of the iPhone 16 Pro / Pro Max, but also runs the full version of Mac OS Tahoe.
Of course, some compromises have been made to reach this price point and perhaps even differentiate it from the MacBook Air. Lack of keyboard backlight, sRGB screen, non-thunderbolt ports, and old-style 12MP web camera. However, even with these compromises, the Neo is a great device to use.
It would be nice to have more customization available, to increase the capacity of the SSD and maybe add more memory – although that may be limited by the A18 Pro chip. It also seems strong to offer Touch ID only for the 512GB capacity model, as it is a really useful feature and can affect security.
Overall, the MacBook Neo is surprisingly good. I would honestly recommend this machine to any Apple fans looking for a new laptop. For those creators who want a workhorse, it doesn’t replace a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, but for everyone else, it’s more than enough to handle all your tasks.
Think again
For anyone looking for a cheap laptop, there are plenty of cheaper options than the Neo in the PC space. The Asus Vivobook S14 and Acer’s Aspire Go 15 are certainly two contenders here. However, in the Mac space, the options are limited.
The MacBook Air M5 now starts at £1099 / $1099, which is almost double that of the Neo – or at least 400 more than the 512GB model. Older Macs can still be found at some online retailers, with great deals on the MacBook Air M4 available, and even some refurbished versions of the MacBook Air M3. However, with the other features of the M3 you don’t get much with the Neo.
For those who want the flexibility of a touchscreen, the iPad Air M4 is the same price of £599 / $599 as the MacBook Neo and not only does it offer a touchscreen but also great power. However, this is the smaller 11-inch model, with the 13-incher adding 200 to the price, while more than 128GB of storage adds to the cost, as does the Magic Keyboard – at the time it’s more expensive than the MacBook Air.
